William Downie Pinot Noirs

When you try a Pinot Noir that, at £37, is horrifically overpriced and one from the same producer, that at £37, is an absolute steal, you have to look further into what this producer is up to.

The producer in question was William Downie.  I tried his 2007 Yarra Valley Pinot Noir at the beginning of the year, and found that it tasted nothing like Pinot Noir!  As a result, and as, at that point, there were none of his other wines in the UK, I just dismissed him as another Australian trying to make a big wine at a high price and therefore I paid him no further attention.

How wrong could I be?  At the end of last month, I was invited to try Liberty Wine’s Australian and New Zealand portfolio and saw that there were now three William Downie wines available, which I tasted and then immediately did some research into the company.  And boy, I was impressed.

William Downie spent a lot of time living and working in Burgundy, and you can tell that this has rubbed off on him.  His wine making approach is strictly hands off, leaving the terroir to make the wine rather than the winemaker, and from tasting his wines, he has achieved his goal wonderfully.  Making wines from Yarra Valley, Mornington Peninsula and Gippsland, these wines are completely different, all reflecting the place they came from.  Take the ridiculously overpriced 2008 Yarra Valley Pinot Noir.  There was a lot of mint, some meat and a touch of cherry stone.  Then a bundle of light, vegetal, stalky cranberry fruit.  It is a well made wine, well balanced, but it is just too crudely powerful. There is none of the elegance I want from a forty quid Pinot Noir.  6/10

Then, moving onto the 2008 Mornington Pinot Noir, there is strawberry, raspberry with a meaty element coming in gently, unlike the steak slap in the face of the Yarra wine.  There is a bit of grippy tannin, some spice too, on the palate but it is really nicely blended with gentle fruit flavours. A long, slightly spicy and herbal finish.  I like this a lot, but it is still a touch pricy.  Still, it is a 7.5/10 wine.

Finally, the 2008 Gippsland Pinot Noir.  This is an outstanding wine – period!  A light, floral nose mixing with raspberries and some sweet wild strawberries leading onto a gently fruity palate, with a bundle of cocoa powder and raspberries.  A very very good wine and well worth the £37, and it will improve with a few years more in bottle.  8.5/10

In 2011 there will be another Gippsland Pinot Noir released, this time with fruit from their own property.  If the 2008 is anything to go by, I can’t wait!

William Downie Wine
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